Guarded knife for cutting butter and cheese



Oct. 9, 1951 HARTMAN 2,570,671

GUARDED KNIFE FOE CUTTING BUTTER AND CHEESE Fi'1e.'d' Sept. 20, 1948- Wmiiw Ii I :5 J

f Fig.3. I "v m In!" 4W 9 M L m TIM IO Fig.4. 2\4 [I8 /22 W m 3 @2049 M 5 Inventor Fig. 5. Fig.6.

g John F. Hartman I I4 J l0 28 \A .uaa/

30 v /2 30 I2 Attorneys Patented Oct. 9, 1951 UNITED SgTA-TELS PATENT or Pic-E (mahogany-manor: curring-BUTTER- AND. cnnnsn John" Hartman; Allentown; Pa., assignor, by v mes'n'elassignm'ents', of forty per cent-.to-John BiaR'einhard} Allentown, Pa.

Application S ptember 20, 1948} .Serial'No.50;073

3I$Glaims;

This invention comprises novel and; useful inrprovements in a knife. and more specifically pere tains .to a knife'especially adapted for paring or.

' lic g clin g u tances; uch. a u ter cheese.

The primary object ofthe ;invent ion*is;to .p!1ovide a knife capable 'of slicing; cheesa butter or other substances which tend to cling to;the blade, with an improved non1clinging slicing action.

An additionalobject of theinvention is to provide a knife in accordance with the foregoing object, which may be converted with facility and celerity from its nonl n ing; use-int a con.- struction supplying the functions-of a conventional knife.

A further object of theinyention isftoprovide a knife conforming with the preceding objects, which may be safely locked'in" either its-non clinging or its conventional knife positions.

A very importantfeatureof theinvention comprises providing a movable guard for a knife blade having aguide surf-ace m'ergin'g intothe cutting edge of the blade for separating slices. of material severed by th-eknife fron1 ;,the uncut; material.

An additional feature of the invention resides in an improved .pin and slot construction fonselectively fastening the guardjin,. its;operativaor inoperative positions.

And, a final feature to begsp ecifically enumerated herein comprehendstheprovisidn organ anti-friction member recessed; and,. journalled in the guide surface of the guardfor detaching the slices severed by the knife from the blade thereof.

These, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by this device, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by way of example only in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the knife with its guard in operative position;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device as shown in the position of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the device in the position shown in Figure 1 but from the other side thereof;

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the device of Figure 1 but with the guard in iis inoperative position; and

Figures 5-7 are vertical transverse sectional detail views taken respectively upon the planes of the section lines 5-5, 6-6 and 1-1 of Figure 1.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the'rvariousg views: itwill be seenthat the numeral- Hl designates a? knifeblade' of any suitable shape and construction butwhich may be conveniently provided with-the customary bevelled and sharpened knife edge' litoadapt the blade for paring, slicing-or the-like operations.

The blade I 0 upon one side thereof'is provided with a guard M'which is of substantially the-same dimensions and contour as the"blade-lfliiwhile' a handle [6 is secured to the undersidrof the blade Hl', opposite the guard, l4, but 'overlyi-ng only therear or shankend of theblade" ID; the handle and blade being rigidly attachedito-each' other as by rivets or otherfasteners'l8"and "20:-

The rivet l8 as will be readily seen-byreference to Figures 2 and '7, extends entirely throughtlie handle, guard andblade, for rigidly'attachin'g these parts together, and serves as afulcrumipin by means of'which the guard, I4 iSpiV0tQ;1'1y"S- cured'to the blade and handle: The rivet 20F; likewise is of a suflicient'length to extend later ally from the blade l0, and alsoextend' through'i the'side of the guard M as'indicated in-Figures 2' and 6. The rivet 20' is rigidly and preferably immovably secured in boththe handle 1 6 and the blade I0, and has an end protrudinglateral ly from the side of the blade lilopposite the-handle [6, which protruding portion constitutesrai stop pinas set forth hereinafter:

A pair of arcuate guide and'locking' slots 22 and24 are-formed in the marginal edgeofthe guard l 4 and are preferably struck upon the same radius with the fulcrum pin I8 as a center, and of. a radius equal to the distance from the fulcrum pin I8 and the stop pin 20, so that one of the slots 22 or 24 may be selectively engaged upon the pin 20 to constitute a stop and locking means for the guard in either its closed or open position as shown respectively in Figures 1 and 2 and in Figure 4.

The width of the guard 14 is preferably such and its shape is such that that what may be termed the lower marginal or side edge of the guard is disposed a slight distance from the bevelled knife edge l2, to provide a clearance therefor, whereby the guard will snugly overlie the entire cutting portion of the blade l0 except for its bevelled edge [2.

As will be'readily seen by reference to Figures 1 and 5, the lower surface of the guard l4 adjacent the bevelled edge I2 when the guard is in its operative or assembled position upon the knife blade, is bevelled and provided with one or more recesses 26 in which are suitably journalled roll-v ers 28 for a purpose which will later become apparent. This bevelled surface of the guard l4 indicated by the numeral 39 in Figure 5, is so shaped as to merge into the bevelled surface I 2 of the knife blade, and form a continuation thereof. The rollers 28 may be of any suitable construction and are preferably axially journalled in any desired manner in the recesses 26.

The operation of the device is as follows:

With the guard folded about its fulcrum pin l8 into its closed position or operative position upon the blade ID, as shown in Figures 1-3, it will be seen by reference to Figure 5 that the device may be employed to sever butter, cheese or other clinging substances, whereupon the slice so severed will slide up the bevelled surface 12 of the knife blade, over the smoothly contoured concave surface of the guard, and thence over the antifriction roller 28, to be thus readily detached from the piece of material being sliced. The

roller 28 serves to lift the slice of material, so

severed, from its intimate clinging contact with the contoured surfaces of the blade [2 and the surface 30, whereby the slice may be readily disengaged from the knife. It will be noted that in this position, the locking slot 22 has received the locking pin 29, whereby the guard is firmly positioned in position upon the knife blade.

Alternatively, the guard may be pivoted into its open position as shown in Figure 4, whereupon the pin 29 is engaged in the slot 24 to limit the opening movement of the guard, and thus completely expose the knife blade l0 and its cutting edge l'2 whereby the same may be employed in the manner of a conventional knife.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that there has been provided a knife having a dual function or purpose and which is of economical and dependable construction.

Since numerous modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a considera tion of the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as, new is:

1. A knife comprising an elongated flat blade member having a cutting portion and a handle receiving portion, a handle fixedly attached to 4 one side of said handle receiving portion and w extensive therewith, an elongated guard movably attached to the other side of said handle receiv-' ing portion and co-extensive with said blade member, said guard having a flat inner face abutting one side of said blade member, the other side of said guard including a beveled lower edge; said cutting portion of ,said blade member in-- cluding a beveled cutting edge, said beveled lower edge of said guard merging with said beveled cutting edge of said blade and forming a continua tion thereof, said guard having an elongated recess therein communicating with said beveled lower edge thereof and extending longitudinally of said guard, and a roller journaled in said recess and extending outwardly thereof, said guard being pivotally attached to said handle receiving portion intermediate the ends of the handle receiving portion whereby said guard is movable into operative position with the beveled lower edge thereof merging with the beveled cutting edge of the blade member and into its inoperative position with the guard overlying the handle receiving portion only of the blade member, and stop means engaging the guard member when the latter is in its operative and inoperative positions.

2. The combinationof claim 1 wherein said stop means includes a pair of arcuate slots in said guard member, each of said slots being concentric with-the pivot point of the guard and communicating with the lower edge of the guard on oppositesides of the pivot point thereof, and a pin extending through said handle and handle receiving portion and receivable in said slots.

3. The combination of claim 2 including a common fastener securing the handle to the handle receiving portion of the blade and comprising a pivot for said guard.

JOHN F. HARTMAN.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of thispatent:

V I UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Lowry Oct. 16, 1945 

